Hinduism

Religion:

  • very old and hard to set a specific time

  • the worship of many gods with the belief in single divine reality

  • not a single unified religion, more like a family of beliefs

  • Borrowed religious beliefs and symbols from Greek

  • Worshiped gods around fire pits

  • Around 500bc, society had a great upheaval

    • Began to question Hinduism

    • This was called the Upanishads Period or Axis Age

      • emergence of questioning of Vedic religious beliefs

      • growing interest in altering consciousness

      • wrote nearly 100 works recording insights into eternal and internal

    • Concepts:

      • Brahman - divine reality at the heart of all things, something that can be known not something to believe

        • says lived experiences in some ways are all holy, coming from same sacred source

          • chit- (pure consciousness)

          • amanda (bliss)

          • sat (reality iteself)

      • Atman - self or soul, deepest self

      • Maya - world is actually an illusion, world is real but know how we think it is, the world is a holy reality taking on many forms

      • Karma - general belief that everything has its own life force and when it dies, another form is reborn

        • moral law of cause and effect, one is reborn is based upon why they did life

      • Samsara - belief of a wheel of life, a circle on constant rebirth with constant struggle and suffering in everyday life

      • Moksha - ultimate goal of being liberated or free from things like egotism, resentment, or anger which limit the individual

        • with enough insight and practice, one can go beyond limits

Deities:

  • Dyas Pitr - father of all gods

  • Agni - god of fire

  • Ushas - god of dawn and renewal

    • beginning thought of reincarnation in Hinduism and Karma)

  • Karma - only female god

    • How you treat people will come back to you

  • Varuna - god of sky and justice

  • Rudra - god of winds

  • Yama - god of afterlife

  • Brahma - creation force of the universe

  • Vishnu - force of preservation in the universe

  • Shiva - the force of destruction which is more like recycling with the loss of a form creating a new form

Culture:

  • Has caste system

  • The Vedic Period

    • ancient text of scripture are called Vedas

  • Sacred chants done by priests in ceremonies

    • felt they had to protect knowledge of chants by handing them down orally

    • earliest chants were written down to form Hindu

  • Vedas Sacred Texts

  1. Rig Veda - collection of over a thousand chants to Aryan gods

  2. Yajur Veda - ceremonial knowledge recitation during sacrifice

  3. Sama Veda - handbook of music; elaborations of Vedic chants

  4. Atharva Veda - practical prayers and charms call knowledge of the teacher

  • Work is religious activity

    • Caste system based on god:

      • Body is called perusha

      • Mouth is brahman

      • Two arms were the rajayna

      • Two thighs are the vaishyas

      • Two feet are shura

    • Five social classes

      1. Priests who perform Vedic rituals and counselor

      2. Warrior-noble protects society known autocracy

      3. The merchant includes land owners, moneylenders, and some artisans

      4. Peasant is manual labor for higher castes

      5. The untouchable do the dirtiest work no one else wants

        • The Indian reformer Ghandi renamed them “the children of god” and urged their inclusion into regular society

  • Stages of life

    1. Student - found person learning religious foundations for life

    2. Householder - marriage arrange by parents leads to raising children for society

    3. Retiree - when grandchildren arrive people may retire to help and also study religious matters

    4. Renunicate - an option after retirement, to live free from society and the world is one’s home

  • Goals of life

    • Pleasure - karma

    • Artha - security and power

    • Dharma - social and religious duty

  • Role of yoga in life

    • Jnana yoga

      • brings insight into one’s divine nature, usually appropriate for priests and intellectuals

    • Karma yoga

      • proposes all useful work if done unselfishly can be a way to perfection, therefore doing work without needing money, pleasure, or praise

    • Bhakti yoga

      • expressions of devotion usually chants, songs, food offerings, and anointing status

    • Raja yoga

      • promotes meditation, does not appear in Bhagavad Gita

    • Hatha yoga

      • not as much physical exercise but more stretching and balancing with breaking exercises

  • Devotional hinduism

    • most Hindus follow the path of devotion called Bhakti at home altars or village temples

    • Puja is practiced as a common ritual performed at altars with images of gods and the offering of items like flower, food, and incense

    • Chikara - the center of the body where energy rises from the base of the spine to the head

    • Devotion to a guru who is a spiritual leader

    • Devotion to the kindness of animals to never harm or eat them

    • Pilgrimage to area sacred sites devoted to popular gods